JustWrite has a now established partnership with Jodi Burshia’s English classes at Southwest Indian Polytechnic Institute for a write and art exchange which culminates in a night of poetry and digital storytelling. This spring our featured writers are Byron Aspaas and Aleksander Sosaya. (See bios below.) Please joins us virtually via Zoom on April 7 from 5-6:30pm for this event.
Byron F. Aspaas uses experience to etch landscape onto white space. He is Diné. Aspaas holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Creative Writing from the Institute of American Indian Arts. His work is scattered throughout journals and anthologies, which include: RedInk, Yellow Medicine Review, 200 New Mexico Poems, Weber: The Contemporary West, As/Us: A Space for Women of the World, Semicolon, The Denver Quarterly, International Writing Program Collections, The Rumpus, and CloudThroat. He is Red Running into the Water, born for Bitter Water. Aspaas resides northeast of the Four Sacred Mountains with his partner, three cats, and six dogs in Colorado Springs. He is working on a collection of essays, short stories, and poems. (byspaas@gmail.com)
Aleksander Sosaya is a mixed media artist, a musician, and a father. Growing up in the Varrios of Santa Fe and serving time in detention facilities at a young age, Sosaya gained a unique perspective that heavily influences his artwork today. Aleksander’s accomplishments range from creating murals when he was in the Youth Diagnostic Detention Center, at the age of 15 for the Foster Grandparent Program, to published poetry and artwork throughout his time of incarceration and following his release. He was a collaborating artist with JustWrite in the Harwood Art Center, Bridge: Arts and Social Justice Exhibit. Aleksander’s art seeks to create awareness around issues of incarceration, solitary confinement, addiction, and poverty by sharing his own experiences through community collaboration and the healing and inspiring medium of visual arts. (arsosaya@gmail.com)